The Looney Tunes at Capitol Records Part 2: 1950-1952
Continuing where we left off with the previous entry, we’re going to look at Looney Tunes records from the years 1950 into 1952, all released by Capitol. For those of you wondering, I’ve found out about many of these records from Walt Mitchell’s impressive discography in the book Mel Blanc: The Man of a Thousand Voices. Keep in mind, though, that: 1) I do not have access to all of the records in the discography and therefore cannot review every entry in there, and 2) as Mitchell mentions in the book, there is still a possibility that there are records out there that have yet to be discovered. With that in mind, though, here are the records I’m able to review right now, from the years 1950-1952.
Bugs Bunny Meets Hiawatha (1950)
This is a reworking of the Academy Award-nominated cartoon, Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt. Personally, I’m not really a fan of the original and this one doesn’t really do much for me either. June Foray seems like a more fitting choice for Hiawatha than Blanc was, though Hiawatha barely appears on the record that bears his name. Most of it is based on common Native American stereotypes from that time, so this one has become very dated.
Daffy Duck Meets Yosemite Sam (1950)
Despite the title’s claim, this was not the first time Daffy met Yosemite Sam. They had previously met in the 1947 cartoon, Along Came Daffy. This record uses a similar plot device to the 1942 Bugs Bunny cartoon, The Wabbit Who Came to Supper, in which an animal hater must be kind to an animal in order to receive a fortune. I feel, though, that this material is actually better suited for Daffy and Sam, since Sam is a lot more aggressive, and Daffy is more willing to take advantage of others. It’s a pretty fun record and features a pretty upbeat section with Daffy hosting a square dance. Pinto Colvig, best known for voicing Walt Disney’s Goofy, seems to be doing the voice of Sam’s Uncle Ulysses, as it matches his voice for Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At this time, he was appearing for Capitol as the voice of Bozo the Clown and had previously appeared with Blanc in a few promotional records for Capitol.
Tweety Pie (1950)
This is sort of your standard Tweety and Sylvester story but has very little resemblance to the 1947 cartoon of the same name. Sylvester wants to eat Tweety and fails through several attempts due to obstacles in his way. In this case, it’s Granny, who comes to Tweety’s aid whenever he whistles. It kind of reminds me of the Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Bodyguard. Sylvester’s pretty over-the-top in this one, which leads to some great comic screaming on his part. I especially love how he debates eating Tweety because of how great his singing is. At one point you can even hear Mel using the voice he used for Jack Benny’s Maxwell on The Jack Benny Program. Also notable about this record is that, to my knowledge, this marks the first time June Foray voiced Granny. At the time, Bea Benaderet was doing the voice in the cartoons, though Foray replaced her in the mid-1950s and continued to do the voice up until a few years before her passing in 2017, possibly the longest time someone voiced a cartoon character.
Henery Hawk (1951)
I’ve never really been a fan of Henery Hawk. His only useful purpose really was to create situations for Foghorn Leghorn and he eventually proved that he could do that without Henery. As suggested by the title, Henery is the main focus of this record, leaving home to find himself a chicken to eat. Foghorn does appear on this record, but you’d never be able to tell judging by the cover art, which features Henery dragging Daffy Duck with him, despite the fact that Daffy doesn’t appear until the end. Though Foghorn does have a decent amount of lines, there are rarely any lines of interest and the few that are (such as him saying “D-O-G spells chicken”) were done in the actual cartoons. Even the idea of pairing Daffy with Henery and Foghorn is not exclusive to this record; he had previously appeared with Henery in the 1948 cartoon, You Were Never Duckier, and would later appear with Foghorn in the 1956 cartoon, The High and the Flighty. A dog appears on this record, but isn’t ever specifically referred to as the Barnyard Dawg from the cartoons. Blanc seems to be using a similar voice, but it’s sped up. Overall, this is a pretty weak effort with very little unique to it, so you’re just better off watching a regular Foghorn Leghorn cartoon.
Bugs Bunny and the Grow-Small Juice (1952)
This is a pretty interesting record. Even though the cartoons were slowly moving towards the more greedy and self-centered Daffy at this point, on this record, he’s still in full-on crazy mode, which is something you rarely see (or, in this case, hear) in a Bugs-Daffy pairing. Bugs’s hopping song is an enjoyable tune and it’s interesting to hear the characters’ voices pitched up so high when they’re small- Bugs especially, since it’s very close to his Tweety voice. It’s a pretty unique record and definitely worth checking out if you’ve got a chance.
Bugs Bunny and Aladdin’s Lamp (1952)
The first half of this record is basically a reworking of the 1948 cartoon, A-Lad-In His Lamp, but without the animation and sadly not featuring Jim Backus, who was wonderful as the voice of the genie in the original cartoon. Thankfully, the second half deviates from the cartoon enough to barely stand on its own, with Bugs turning into a horse and ending up in a horse race. It’s nothing particularly special, but it’s a decent enough effort.
Daffy Duck’s Feathered Friend (1952)
This is a partial reworking of a cartoon called Cracked Quack, which was released the same year as this record. Like in the cartoon, Daffy fails at flying south and decides to stay in someone else’s house for the winter. Much like in Aladdin’s Lamp, the second half of this record goes in a different direction than the cartoon. First off, the owner of the house on this record is Elmer Fudd (in the original cartoon, it was Porky Pig). Also, in this case Daffy is technically in more danger because Elmer just got home from a failed duck hunt and particularly craves ducks as a result. The ending is pretty funny and there is a nice saloon-type song to finish it off. It’s a pretty fun record even if it’s somewhat unoriginal.
So, that ends the 1950-1952 period for the Looney Tunes on Capitol Records. As you may have noticed, there seems to have been a huge reliance on older scripts to meet the quota for children’s records and as a result it feels like a step down from the previous period of Looney Tunes records. However, the production values are still top-notch and there is a wide variety of characters featured on the records. None of them last longer than the running time of a theatrical cartoon, so they can be pretty fun distractions.
Bugs Bunny Meets Hiawatha (1950)
This is a reworking of the Academy Award-nominated cartoon, Hiawatha’s Rabbit Hunt. Personally, I’m not really a fan of the original and this one doesn’t really do much for me either. June Foray seems like a more fitting choice for Hiawatha than Blanc was, though Hiawatha barely appears on the record that bears his name. Most of it is based on common Native American stereotypes from that time, so this one has become very dated.
Daffy Duck Meets Yosemite Sam (1950)
Despite the title’s claim, this was not the first time Daffy met Yosemite Sam. They had previously met in the 1947 cartoon, Along Came Daffy. This record uses a similar plot device to the 1942 Bugs Bunny cartoon, The Wabbit Who Came to Supper, in which an animal hater must be kind to an animal in order to receive a fortune. I feel, though, that this material is actually better suited for Daffy and Sam, since Sam is a lot more aggressive, and Daffy is more willing to take advantage of others. It’s a pretty fun record and features a pretty upbeat section with Daffy hosting a square dance. Pinto Colvig, best known for voicing Walt Disney’s Goofy, seems to be doing the voice of Sam’s Uncle Ulysses, as it matches his voice for Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. At this time, he was appearing for Capitol as the voice of Bozo the Clown and had previously appeared with Blanc in a few promotional records for Capitol.
Tweety Pie (1950)
This is sort of your standard Tweety and Sylvester story but has very little resemblance to the 1947 cartoon of the same name. Sylvester wants to eat Tweety and fails through several attempts due to obstacles in his way. In this case, it’s Granny, who comes to Tweety’s aid whenever he whistles. It kind of reminds me of the Tom and Jerry cartoon, The Bodyguard. Sylvester’s pretty over-the-top in this one, which leads to some great comic screaming on his part. I especially love how he debates eating Tweety because of how great his singing is. At one point you can even hear Mel using the voice he used for Jack Benny’s Maxwell on The Jack Benny Program. Also notable about this record is that, to my knowledge, this marks the first time June Foray voiced Granny. At the time, Bea Benaderet was doing the voice in the cartoons, though Foray replaced her in the mid-1950s and continued to do the voice up until a few years before her passing in 2017, possibly the longest time someone voiced a cartoon character.
Henery Hawk (1951)
I’ve never really been a fan of Henery Hawk. His only useful purpose really was to create situations for Foghorn Leghorn and he eventually proved that he could do that without Henery. As suggested by the title, Henery is the main focus of this record, leaving home to find himself a chicken to eat. Foghorn does appear on this record, but you’d never be able to tell judging by the cover art, which features Henery dragging Daffy Duck with him, despite the fact that Daffy doesn’t appear until the end. Though Foghorn does have a decent amount of lines, there are rarely any lines of interest and the few that are (such as him saying “D-O-G spells chicken”) were done in the actual cartoons. Even the idea of pairing Daffy with Henery and Foghorn is not exclusive to this record; he had previously appeared with Henery in the 1948 cartoon, You Were Never Duckier, and would later appear with Foghorn in the 1956 cartoon, The High and the Flighty. A dog appears on this record, but isn’t ever specifically referred to as the Barnyard Dawg from the cartoons. Blanc seems to be using a similar voice, but it’s sped up. Overall, this is a pretty weak effort with very little unique to it, so you’re just better off watching a regular Foghorn Leghorn cartoon.
Bugs Bunny and the Grow-Small Juice (1952)
This is a pretty interesting record. Even though the cartoons were slowly moving towards the more greedy and self-centered Daffy at this point, on this record, he’s still in full-on crazy mode, which is something you rarely see (or, in this case, hear) in a Bugs-Daffy pairing. Bugs’s hopping song is an enjoyable tune and it’s interesting to hear the characters’ voices pitched up so high when they’re small- Bugs especially, since it’s very close to his Tweety voice. It’s a pretty unique record and definitely worth checking out if you’ve got a chance.
Bugs Bunny and Aladdin’s Lamp (1952)
The first half of this record is basically a reworking of the 1948 cartoon, A-Lad-In His Lamp, but without the animation and sadly not featuring Jim Backus, who was wonderful as the voice of the genie in the original cartoon. Thankfully, the second half deviates from the cartoon enough to barely stand on its own, with Bugs turning into a horse and ending up in a horse race. It’s nothing particularly special, but it’s a decent enough effort.
Daffy Duck’s Feathered Friend (1952)
This is a partial reworking of a cartoon called Cracked Quack, which was released the same year as this record. Like in the cartoon, Daffy fails at flying south and decides to stay in someone else’s house for the winter. Much like in Aladdin’s Lamp, the second half of this record goes in a different direction than the cartoon. First off, the owner of the house on this record is Elmer Fudd (in the original cartoon, it was Porky Pig). Also, in this case Daffy is technically in more danger because Elmer just got home from a failed duck hunt and particularly craves ducks as a result. The ending is pretty funny and there is a nice saloon-type song to finish it off. It’s a pretty fun record even if it’s somewhat unoriginal.
So, that ends the 1950-1952 period for the Looney Tunes on Capitol Records. As you may have noticed, there seems to have been a huge reliance on older scripts to meet the quota for children’s records and as a result it feels like a step down from the previous period of Looney Tunes records. However, the production values are still top-notch and there is a wide variety of characters featured on the records. None of them last longer than the running time of a theatrical cartoon, so they can be pretty fun distractions.
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